Animal Watering In Freezing Temps

How on EARTH do you poor folks north of the Red River keep your critters watered in winter? Ewwww.. Brrrr.... I just had to give my bunnies a crock and stand there waitin' on em to drink it, and knock a hole in the ice for the dog's to drink out of thier big bucket... Luckily, the pond isn't frozen, so the horses and goats are on their own.. But it got me thinking......

Man... months of this would be NUTS!!! WHAAATTT do you all DOOOOO?????

I have 2 waterers. Every morning I fill the 2nd waterer with lukewarm water and go to the coop and exchange it for the frozen one. The next day I do the same thing. I need to visit the coop daily anyway to collect eggs, check bedding, etc., so the extra step is no big deal. I love my chickens and look forward to talking to them each morning!

Oh you're not used to this, well chores take Loooonger in the winter up here when its real cold. First you put on your long johns then your clothes then your carhart bibs, and jacket, gloves, hat, boots. Whew... Then you milk goats. Then you take four hot water buckets out to the stock tank for the mules, and rake off the snow break out the ice and dump water on. Then you do the same for all goats who are pregnant or milking, any who are not preg or milking only get watered at evening. Then you hay all horses/mules, water rabbits and feed all juveniles or preggers water chickens water dog. run to house to warm up. Then in evening you repeat adding haying all goats, feeding every animal on the place watering the dry stock too. and oops I forgot the calves. Go back in warm up make supper, go back out and milk again. At least one good thing when it snows buckets get to ride on a sled and you don't have to carry water or hay bales just pull them and the dog can do that

Black rubber buckets -- we used them in the Interior of Alaska, and even at seventy below zero they didn't crack or break. We would swing them against a tree to break the ice out, then fill with hot water. Winter lasts seven months where we lived up there, so count your blessings!

Here I'm still using black rubber buckets, and a black rubber feed pan for the chicken water (we used one of those in Alaska, too, and once one of the geese sat in it too long and got frozen in -- he wasn't too happy about being brought in the house to thaw out!). I take a couple of five gallon jugs of hot water down to the animals in the morning, knock the ice out, and fill with hot water. It isn't so cold here as it was in Alaska and the buckets usually still have some (liquid) water in them, but it's cold, and the animals all hurry over to get some of the hot water as soon as I pour it in. The buck is usually drinking while I'm pouring -- I try not to pour water on his head, even though he really needs a bath! When we've had rabbits, we had two water bottles for each cage, and took the frozen ones in each morning to thaw, exchanging with the others. It's not too hard for me right now, as I only have five goats and about seventeen chickens, plus the dog (who sleeps in the house, but is outside during the day, so has a water dish outside, too). It's actually easier when there is snow on the ground, as I use a plastic sled to carry the water. Right now the snow is all gone -- hope we get some more soon!

Stock tanks with submersible heaters. I shovel snow right in to that and it will melt. This is for the horses.

Electric 5 gallon bucket heaters. This is indespensible. I fill a 5 gallon bucket of water, pluck in heater and in 15-20 minutes I have very HOT water. I do other chores while I am waiting for the water to heat up. This hot water is used to add to the rabbit crocks that are frozen and will thaw it. I also add hot water to the chickens water [those rubber buckets as previously mentioned are used for the chickens]. For the goats, I switch their water buckets if they are frozen. The frozen bucket I place the heater on top of the ice and it will melt the ice. I LOVE THOSE BUCKET HEATERS!.

..."once one of the geese sat in it too long and got frozen in -- he wasn't too happy about being brought in the house to thaw out!)...."

ROTFLMAO! Kathleen, that's the funniest thing I've ever heard! I can imagine a goose doing just that. I have one of those black rubber tubs for my geese and it's amazing that they will try to sit and bathe in it, no matter how cold. Well, now I'll have to watch out to make sure I don't come home in the evening to a goose-cicle! :haha:

Electric tank heaters for the horses and sheep. Heat lamps hanging over black rubber water pans for the poultry. BIG electric bills for the winter months! But, after years ago having a horse colic because of not drinking enough water in the cold weather, we figure it is still cheaper than a big vet bill.

Two chicken waterers; one is in coop while the other thaws in the basement.

Two 5 gallon buckets for the dog; one outside with him (or in garage if it is sub-zero like last night and tonight) other in basement to thaw.

Forget the rabbit bottles, they went to water crocks back in November. Here also I have two for each rabbit; one in the hutch and one in the basement to thaw.

Water is changed at breakfast (around 7:30 a.m.) and after dark (about 5:30 p.m. right now). Warm water is supplied at each water change.

For horses, black rubber buckets, and learn how to give a good quick stomp on the side of the bucket to break the ice out without harming the bucket. If it's really cold, two bucket system same as the other critters.

I just don't understand why dh doesn't like animals (tongue in cheek looking at all these thawing water vessels in my basement)

If I had a ton of animals, heaters and lights might be more efficient and economical to keep water from freezing. Right now it's cheaper to have two of everything and let nature control the heat!

Invest in some frost-free hydrants like at plant nurseries statically located on your place. After 9 years toting buckets of water from the bathtub, I am in 7th heaven.
And dump all the water buckets at sundown. It frees you beating ice out of the buckets in the morning to refill them. Sleeping animals don't drink.
South of the Red River, not a wise investment.
Just hang in there. This too shall pass. Winter is funny and fickle. You'll get your 70s back and be basking in it.

Hey SherrieC--- you forgot that after you get the long johns, the pants, the socks, the coveralls, the coat, the hat, the gloves and the boots on--- you step outside and realize that you really should have made a trip to the bathroom before you started all this! :haha:

I have one of those large propane burners next to my chicken coop. I light it up and set the chicken fountain right on top. By the time I have collected the eggs and topped up the food the water is thawed.

For four mornings in a row I had to bring in all 22 rabbit water bottles, thaw them in the kitchen sink and take them new fresh water. I can carry about half of them in a big plastic five gallon bucket at a time so took two trips to the house and back...

This was the first year in north Alabama in the six years i've had this many rabbits that I've had to thaw rabbit bottles four days in a row...

Also have had to hand carry gallons of warm water to the chickens and goats because outside water faucet froze even though it was wrapped...

Would love to have one of those frost-free non-freezing ones but simply don't have the money right now...

Didn't have to thaw rabbit bottles this morning which is good because I was on deadline for the newspaper. It takes about 30 minutes to get all 22 bottles fixed and in place.

Rubber buckets, hauling hot water out to the barn to jump start the bucket heaters, and hauling the iced up buckets back into the house to thaw out for the next trip. We make two watering trips, AM and PM, to encourage them to eat and drink before it gets dark so they can go to sleep with full tummies. This year I invested in an electric bucket. WOW! It has been in the subs, and that bucket stays clear of ice.

Man... months of this would be NUTS!!! WHAAATTT do you all DOOOOO?????

(I want my 70 degree days back.. eeeeeeeeee!!!) :waa:

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It was pretty warm today for the end of Dec, 25 for a high. We have to do things a little different here in the cold states. Was down to minus 16 a couple of nights last week, high of 2. No snow _at all_ which is very odd, and drives the frost very, very deep into the ground. Water lines need to be 6' down around here. Anyhow, generally I allow the snow to make up a bit of the livestock's water needs and only absoulutely need to give them ample water 1 time a day, but that would not work this year.....

I water 25-45 head of cattle, and used to just water them 2 times a day from the drain-back fountain. But,t that is a chore & time intensive for that many cattle.

This fall I put in a non-electric freezeproof waterer - it has a tube into the ground (for my location, 8') that brings up earth heat, and is well insulated with a 5 gallon buck of water on top. To date, it only got 1/2" of ice when the cattle decided not to come home for 16 hours on a very cold windy day. On the below zero days the cattle were around to slurp some water every couple hours, and it had no ice at all. Lots of frozen spittle around it tho, some form of strange artwork! I'm very pleased to say the least, & the cattle have it much better with water available all the time.

A regular electric heated type of waterer would cost $30 a month in electricity for 5 months per year 'here', so I get this waterer paid for in 4 years in electricity savings - never mind that the electric models cost almost the same to start with...

Overkill for rabbits I suppose, but my cats appreciate it too. If we ever get some snow, will be interesting to see what other critter tracks I see around it...

In WA and soon to be here, I installed frost free water faucets. These are various lengths of pipe with a handle/valve on the top and a four-way inlet/outlet on the other end. This end was buried a sufficient depth to be below the frost depth. The water line to this was also buried and connected to one of the four in/out connections. Then, when the water valve was closed after use, all the water in the pipe drained out in the bottom, and there was nothing left on top to freeze. On my 5 ac in WA, I had six of these in strategic places around the property. I will have two installed on our two ac here. They work!